Opinion Blog

How will Rick Perry stifle boos on immigration? Not ‘heart’

Rick Perry got booed when the subject of immigration came up in the Fox News debate last night. The subject could be his undoing.

He may get cheers for the “Ponzi scheme” slam on Social Security and for his performances as Mr. Job Creator, but the boos could screw all that up with GOP voters.

It sounds wimpy for Perry to oppose a 2,000-mile wall, even though it should be obvious that it’s a stupid idea. The land border with Canada is about as long. Is it even theoretically possible to seal off that length of terrain? I don’t think all Perry’s talk about Texas Ranger patrols is enough to help him.

Also, Mitt Romney had a great way to skewer Perry’s support of the law that allows in-state tuition to certain illegal immigrants. Romney boiled it down to dollars and cents, which was brilliance. From the Fox transcript:

ROMNEY: It’s an argument I just can’t follow. I’ve got be honest with you, I don’t see how it is that a state like Texas — to go to the University of Texas, if you’re an illegal alien, you get an in-state tuition discount. You know how much that is? That’s $22,000 a year.

Four years of college, almost $100,000 discount if you are an illegal alien go to the University of Texas. If you are a United States citizen from any one of the other 49 states, you have to pay $100,000 more. That doesn’t make sense to me.

From a political standpoint, Perry’s retort about long-term gains, responsibility and decency doesn’t neutralize the money statement. Perry’s lines:

But if you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they’ve been brought there by no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart.

We need to be educating these children, because they will become a drag on our society.

It’s that “heart” point that costs him. Remember, this is a GOP audience — the same category that cheered the death penalty and cheered the idea of letting uninsured people die of illness.

“Heart” isn’t Texas tough.

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The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board was the first editorial board in the nation to use a blog to openly discuss hot topics and issues among its members and with readers. Our intent is to pull back the curtain on the daily process of producing the unsigned editorials that reflect the opinion of the newspaper, and to share analysis and opinion on issues of interest to board members and invited guest bloggers.